Bernard Rousseau, the last attendee to leave the room, closed the door behind him, leaving Maryanne Carter alone for a private chat with Samantha Carter. The captain stayed close to the camera. In Minnesota, Pulaski and the driver of the SUV got out of the vehicle.

Sam's lips moved, but she couldn't say anything for the other Carter started her speech, resolute:

"Look, aunt Sam, I'm perfectly aware of the risks, but I have to do this. I can't let anyone else risk their life while I'm staying in Black Stone."

Sam tried to speak again, in vain. She kept on listening to her niece.

"You should understand. You've faced similar situations, even worse. With SG1, you didn't hesitate to fight against Apophis when you knew he was coming, based on Daniel Jackson's predicament in an alternate reality. You knew you may not come back, but you wouldn't give up. I'm not gonna give up either."

Maryanne's determination was perceptible on her face and in her tone. Nobody would make her change her mind on this topic, including her aunt. This is why Maryanne had made her speech before Samantha could convince her to reconsider the situation.

She didn't expect to hear her aunt's encouragement, "I was just going to say good luck."

"Oh..." the younger Carter said, caught off guard. Then, more relaxed, she continued, "Thanks, Sam. It's gonna be alright, we'll make jokes of this at Thanksgiving."

The two ladies had made jokes of many crazy situations they had been through. For young Carter, being beamed away from her own apartment was one of them...

... Maryanne got out of her bedroom, a towel around her body, holding her cell phone. Someone had called the lady right after her shower. Maryanne went into the living room, bitter. Her husband, Kyle, was adjusting his tie, next to the window. The man was wearing a classy suit, as always when it comes to go to work. He turned to Maryanne when she started to complain.

"That was my aunt. She told me to stay at home until further notice. Then, she said she had to go and hung up on me. Can you believe that?"

Kyle turned his head back to the window, noticing something on the street. "Maybe you should listen to her, Maryanne..." the man finally quietly recommended, still obsessed with the scene below him.

"That's easy for her to say that!" Maryanne fired back. She added and gestured to accompany her words, "She's a general, she can do what she wants. I'm a lieutenant who's expected to report for duty. I just can't call and say hello guys, I have to stay at home, but I can't explain why because I don't know."

Maryanne threw her cell phone onto the sofa, angry. Then, she asked, as a way to think about something else, "What's the weather like, Kyle? They said it would be raining today."

"Well, it's kind of raining... journalists." Kyle revealed, still focused on the scene outside.

Carter approached the window because her husband's words didn't make any sense to her. She understood when she saw journalists, camera operators, and TV channels' vans on the street and on the pavement in front of the building in which the couple was living. A car was trying to get through this mess, and the driver started to honk, annoyed, as nobody cared about the car.

The young officer froze, "What the hell?!"

She couldn't say more for the phone in the living room, on the dresser beside Maryanne and Kyle, rang. Carter picked it up and quickly had to fight against someone.

"No! I'm not giving any interview!... What? No! The Pentagon is not a space ship... I said no interview!"

Carter abruptly hung up. Her own rude reaction baffled her. Maybe not the best way to handle this, but she felt that it was her only option. Unfortunately, this call was just the beginning. The couple heard simultaneously someone knock at their door and exclaim "Mister and Mrs. Marlowe, this is Channel 41, we'd like to talk to you!"; the phone on the dresser, Maryanne's cell phone, and Kyle's, which was in his jacket, ring. The man seized his phone and gaped at it, hesitant. The Channel 41 person was now saying "I know you're here, I promise, it won't take long.".

Maryanne and Kyle stared at each other. They had received instructions about the way to deal with this situation. Theory was one thing. Hands-on practice was another. Maryanne and Kyle inwardly admitted they were doing very poorly. In fact, they were overwhelmed by the situation, and frankly, panicked. Maryanne felt much more comfortable with surviving on a planet and fighting against warlike aliens. Kyle felt much more comfortable with manipulating Excel spreadsheets and talking about budget.

All of a sudden, they disappeared from their living room, thanks to the Asgard beaming technology.

Maryanne and Kyle found themselves in a space carrier, in a large room, in front of an Afro American in his fifties wearing a full dark blue flight suit. A colonel, as it was understandable by the birds on his shoulders. His name was visible on his chest: Jamieson Colby. A young airman was standing beside him, in the same outfit.

Carter, remembering how she was "dressed", maintained the towel with her hands to help it not to fall, and hid behind her husband. She was utterly embarrassed.

Colonel Colby turned around as soon as he realized the way the lieutenant was covered. "Oh, sorry, Carter." he apologized afterwards.

The young airman remained distracted, gawking at Kyle's wife even though he could barely see anything now. Kyle didn't appreciate.

"Hey, you, look away!" the man in the suit admonished while gesturing the airman to move.

This order woke up the guy, who turned around, shamefaced...

... Maryanne couldn't be more grateful to her towel for being there that day and staying in place. Plus, Colonel Colby had been such a gentleman. The moment had been quite embarrassing, like the first time she heard of the Stargate Program. However, it could have been worse. As being beamed while in the shower, under the water...

Maryanne and Sam smiled at each other, thinking about next Thanksgiving and their future crazy stories around the turkey, with the whole gangs of O'Neills and Carters.

Everything in Maryanne's last sentence to her aunt was wrong.

xxxxxxxxxx

I supposed you guessed there was a link between these 2 Carters ;)

When I started to write "Black Stone" (the "prequel" of "Unexpected Notices"), I wanted to focus on what the SG Program would look like today, in the 2020s. It made sense to me that there would be a new generation, hence, new characters. The original would still be there, some retired, some still be in the SG business, some doing other stuff...

I recalled Sam had a niece. I found that it would be nice to have someone who would be a link between the 2 generations. I readjusted her age for the purpose of this story. As for her first name, don't remember if it had been said in the series. So, I chose Maryanne. It's actually the first name of a real USAF lady, who is lieutenant general (or retired now?). Girl power!